Culture & Creative IndustriesNews

The Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival and the Salariya Book Company have opened their 2022 Children’s Picture Book Prize for submissions.

 

The competition, which celebrates five years, is open to unpublished writers and illustrators, with a prize value of £1000. The winner will receive career advice from a leading literary agent and publicity through the Stratford Literary Festival, and the winning entry may also be lucky enough to be published by Salariya imprint, Scribblers.  The final date for entries is 30th January 2022 and the winner will be announced in March.

 

Previous winners have been published in several countries in addition to the UK. The joint 2020 winner, Snow? by author/illustrator Jo Surman, is due for publication this Autumn. Her joint winner Kael Tudor’s success lead to literary agent representation. The 2021 winner who beat a record number of entries was writer Elizabeth Parmenter.

 

The panel of judges for 2022 includes David Salariya, Founder and MD of The Salariya Book Company; Annie Ashworth, Director of The Stratford Literary Festival; the award winning children’s author Serena Patel;  children’s writer and illustrator Steven Lenton; children’s festival programmer Jane Churchill; leading literary agent for children’s books, Jodie Hodges of United Agents, and Tamsin Roswell, bookseller at Kenilworth Books, in Warwickshire.

 

‘This is a double birthday for us,’ said Annie Ashworth, Stratford Upon Avon Literary Festival Director. ‘The fifth year of the picture book prize and the fifteenth birthday of the Festival! We are dedicated to encouraging children to read and helping writers and illustrators to promote their work. It can be hard to get work noticed by publishers and agents so we are delighted, once again, to be offering authors and illustrators the chance to get their creations seen and possibly published.’

 

‘After a challenging couple of years for the publishing industry, it is great to be able to use this competition to focus on the future of children’s books once again,’ said David Salariya, founder of the Salariya Book Company. ‘The prize has already brought attention to many wonderful, undiscovered talents, and we’re certain that its next iteration will reveal even more brilliant authors and illustrators, just waiting for an opportunity to make their mark on publishing.’

 

For details on how to apply go to www.stratlitfest.co.uk/bookprize

 

ENDS